Ben turned to follow Jade out the doorway when Andre called out. Ben turned to see Andre slip his formal jacket back on, his eyes burning with some unfathomable emotion.
“Zak mentioned in his note that you’re training for dragon hunting. Good luck. And train hard—dragons aren’t the only danger a skyfarer has to worry about.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Slate
“My contact has learned of an artifact that may be the one we’re hoping for,” Samuel Thistle signed from where he sat at the gleaming table in the Aerugan meeting room. Slate quirked an eyebrow as Samuel continued, “He has been searching in Vodan for us, and he’s been in contact with a bandit group that claims to have found a cache of relics that belonged to the Sage of Piovant.”
Victor shifted in his chair next to Slate and shot him a side glance before lifting his fingers from the tabletop to gain Samuel’s attention. Samuel nodded and Victor asked, “How do we know that this group is to be trusted?”
Samuel inclined his head and pressed his thick, dark lips together. “We don’t. Ezekial says this is a mercenary group that has some unsavory rumors about it.” He caught Slate’s skeptical expression and added, “More unsavory than one would expect with a mercenary group. Ezekial can’t meet them alone, as he doesn’t have the manpower or the lut required to pay for the relics.” Samuel rested his hands on the table for a moment, letting that sink in before he lifted them again. “His lordship and my queen have agreed that this is a mission worthy of your crew.” His dark eyes sought out Slate. “It will be dangerous, as I’m sure you’ve already ascertained. Additionally, we want to be cautious to not cause an incident between Aerugo and Vodan.”
Slate drummed his fingers against his arm as he nodded. “We’re in, of course.” He looked to Victor. “Maybe we’ll have Garnet find us a load to take to Vodan for cover?”
Victor scratched at his cheek and dipped his head. “Good idea. King Varium would never allow an Aerugan mission like this in his territory without his involvement. I’ll discuss details with Garnet this afternoon.”
A rap against the table brought their attention back to Samuel. “Aerugo will provide the lut necessary to pay for the artifact, of course. Ezekial said he’d have a meeting set up by the time we have our men out there, so Lord Everett wants you there as soon as possible.”
Slate nodded and mentally tallied the distance they’d be traveling. “We’ll need a day to get everything in order. So, if we leave the day after tomorrow, we can be in Vodan in eleven days. Sooner, if the winds are in our favor.”
“Very good.” Samuel paused, then added, “We will send some royal guards as well, for extra protection.”
“Thank you. That is most generous. They will need to be plain-clothed, of course, no Aerugan uniforms.” Slate stroked his goatee. “Will they be under my command or Lord Everett’s?”
A hint of a smile at the edge of Samuel’s eyes told Slate what he already suspected. “They will be under Lord Everett’s directions to be of help to you—but, no, they are not yours to command.” Samuel’s dark eyes focused on Slate. “They are loyal to only his majesty.”
Victor stirred. “Sounds like I have some arrangements to make. With your permission, I’ll get started.”
“Of course, thank you, Victor.” Slate lifted a hand from the armrest of his chair. “I’ll join you soon.”
Victor left, and Samuel rose, Slate following their lead. Samuel came around the corner of the table and loomed over Slate, his back to the guards in the room.
He held his hands close to his body, his black suit jacket hiding his signs from all but Slate. “Be cautious of Lord Everett. He doesn’t fully trust you.”
A trickle of fear slid through Slate’s veins, but he kept it from his voice and face as he bowed. “Thank you for the lead and the advice. We will be off as soon as possible.”
Slate left the meeting room and decided to head straight back to the Sapphire to get as much prepared as possible while he still had daylight. He’d let Briar know that if he needed to get any extra food supplies before the trip, he had until morning to gather everything. And Slate would let the girls know that the engine room had to be put back together before their scheduled departure.
“Captain Stohner.”
Slate suppressed the groan that rumbled in his chest. He cleared his face of annoyance, turned, and bowed crisply. “Lord Everett.”
Black knee-high boots tapped against marble as Everett drew closer, the gold buttons of his ebony suit jacket flashing in the light. He stopped just within Slate’s personal space and clasped his white-gloved hands behind his back as he studied Slate with cold eyes. “Your daughter was here earlier.”
“I’m aware. She was meeting with Queen Violet and then her uncle Andre, if I recall.”
Everett nodded once and circled Slate in a manner reminiscent of a dactyl sensing fresh meat. Slate held himself straight and refused to allow himself to be intimidated by the other man’s close presence and gag-inducing cologne.
“I was struck by how much she doesn’t resemble you,” Everett finally said from behind Slate. He moved into view. “She looks quite like her late aunt Sapphire. Much more than she resembles you or your wife.”
Slate forced himself to keep breathing regularly. “Yes…funny thing, genetics.” He shrugged as if ice wasn’t churning in his veins. “Our mother complained that Garnet and I looked more like her brother than like herself. It’s common enough to not always resemble one’s parents.”
Everett thinned his eyes at Slate before turning on his heel. “If you say so.” He looked over his shoulder. “It would be curious, if one could compare your daughter to what the late princess would’ve looked like now.”
Everett walked away, and Slate watched him go, his mind whirling. Maybe he should talk to Jade soon, after all.
* * *
Slate scarcely noticed the bustle of the Sapphire as he boarded it, his mind still whirring with Everett’s veiled threat. It had to be a threat. Everett didn’t have a single kind bone in his body, and he didn’t go out of his way to speak to people for no reason.
Should he talk to Jade now? Yes. Right away. She should know that Everett had his attention on her, and that might prove unpleasant.
Laughter rang out from the engine room before he reached the bottom of the metal-tread stairs.
Krista’s voice rose above Jade’s maniacal cackle. “Don’t you dare!”
“He’d love to know!”
Slate warily poked his head in the doorway to see Krista brandish a wrench at Jade.
Jade held her own ratchet out against Krista, humor dancing in her eyes.
She looks just like her mother.
“There’s nothing you can say that will make me—oh!” Jade caught sight of him and whipped the ratchet behind her back in a belated attempt to look innocent. She smiled, her eyes wide with suppressed mirth. “Hello, Father dearest. However can I help you this fine day?”
He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t squash her joy, her freedom. What value would it be to tell her something that would only increase her stress, and about things that she couldn’t do anything about? Forewarning meant little when it came to Everett. Better that she could laugh freely, right now, than be burdened with knowledge she didn’t need. And she didn’t need to know that her time on the Sapphire was running out and that she’d soon be thrust into a world of politics just because she was of royal blood.
“We have a mission to Vodan,” he said instead. “It would be quite helpful if you ladies could get the engine back together for us to leave in time.”
Krista inched closer to Jade and gently rapped the wrench against Jade’s shoulder. “Assuming this one actually helps instead of distracting me all day, we can get this beauty working in just a few hours.”
Jade slipped to the side from under Krista’s wrench and raised her ratchet at Krista. “You started it.”
Slate’s heart hurt too much to roll his eyes at their antics, bu
t he managed a small smile before he stepped out of the hot room. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall.
Coward.
Slate opened his eyes as he felt movement pass him. Ben lifted two apples in greeting and shot him a quick grin as he entered the engine room.
“Ladies! I have brought a gift of sustenance from the kitchen above!”
The girls chorused “thank you” with laughter.
Slate sighed. He was going to need to talk to Ben about Jade soon, too. He rubbed at the scar above his eye. If he could just wrap her in a safety blanket and put her away, maybe she’d be safe from any and all interested men.
He knocked on the door of the ladies’ bunk room. The door creaked open, and Garnet raised her eyebrow and wordlessly gestured for him to come in. She shut the door behind him and leaned against it. Slate stared at Jade’s perfectly made bed with its simple pillowcase and blankets. She deserved so much more.
“Everett suspects, and I’m positive that Ben is interested in her,” Slate said without preamble. He pinched the bridge of his nose while looking at his twin. “I don’t know what to do.”
Garnet’s pale face had turned a sickly greenish-white hue at his first announcement about Everett. “You’ve had plenty of perfect opportunities to tell her, and you didn’t.” Disapproval dripped from Garnet’s voice, and Slate looked away from her hard eyes.
“I can’t tell her. Not yet.”
Garnet flung her hands in the air and turned away with a little growl of frustration. She whirled back, her finger inches from his chest as she jabbed. “Why not? You’re a masochist for pain. All you’re doing is prolonging the torture. She needs to know!”
Slate shook his head, a bitter taste filling his mouth. “You know why I can’t.”
“And you know why you need to. She deserves to know.” Garnet sighed and laid a gentle hand on his arm. “She’s old enough. It’s time for her to hear the truth.”
“And have her look at me like that? No. I want her to be happy. This won’t make her happy. She just needs to be protected.” Slate rubbed his thumb in the crease of his pant leg. “I don’t know what she’d do,” he admitted. “But I know she won’t be happy with us. With me.”
Garnet rolled her eyes. “Well, yes, you’re right. We’ve kept this from her for her whole life. She won’t be thrilled. But maybe it won’t be as bad as you think. If nothing else, she’ll understand why you keep dragging her to whatever noble event you can get an invitation to.”
“She needs the training.”
“If she even takes on that role,” Garnet exclaimed. She stalked to her bed, sat, and popped up a moment later to pace the tiny room. “You’ve decided her future for her without her permission. She’s comfortable here. She’s happy. Do you really think she’d be happy with what you have planned?”
“I’m not planning anything.” Slate’s shoulders sagged under the weight of his memories. “I’m only giving her what she deserves.” He puffed out a breath. “And what our people need.”
“Deserves, maybe. Wants, I doubt it.” Garnet’s eyes softened. “Our people have survived without their rightful ruler this long. They’ll continue to survive without her, if that’s what she decides. Either way, it’s past time for her to know, and we need to be the ones to do so. We can’t risk someone like Everett suspecting and her figuring it out the hard way. Think how much worse she’ll take it then.”
Doubt, guilt, and frustration roiled in Slate’s stomach. He swallowed back bile. “I’ll tell her soon.”
“When?”
“Soon enough,” he amended. “I just need to find the right time.”
“Don’t let it pass you by.” Garnet shot him a look. “Again.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Jade
Jade laid her folded undergarments into the cedar chest at the foot of her bed, then returned to the small pile of clean, lemon-scented garments waiting to be put away. She tugged the sleeve of her blouse, pulling it out of the pile. She shook it out before folding along the lines, trying to minimize wrinkles. Aunt Garnet would likely get on her case later about not taking the time to press her clothing in the name of propriety, but what did a mechanic need such frivolities for? Jade smirked as she set the folded garment aside and pulled her blue blouse from the jumbled clothing.
Besides, who has time to care so much about appearance and clothing and makeup? Not this mechanic!
Someone knocked on the door, and Jade glanced at the shirt in her hands before setting it aside with a shrug. All her unmentionables were put away. Whoever was there shouldn’t be put out by seeing her laundry or her barely brushed hair.
Jade blinked in surprise to see Ben on the other side of the door. I take it all back. He looked up from the floor and flashed her a small smile. She resisted the urge to smooth a hand over her static-y hair as she let the door swing wide open.
“Hey, Jade.” Ben rubbed the back of his neck as his gaze traveled across the small room and came to rest on her pile of clothing. “If this is a bad time to talk, I can come back later. I—”
“No, it’s fine.” Jade stepped back and hesitated a heartbeat before sitting on the bed. She grabbed a pair of coarse pants to fold and looked up to see Ben leaning against her desk. Jade tried for a smile, ignoring the flutter of nerves coursing through her. What could Ben want to talk to her about? Yesterday, at the palace? The market? Jade tamped down on her growing panic.
“So, what’s on your mind?” she asked as she watched Ben fidget.
Ben glanced at the open door and closed his eyes with a sigh. “I came to apologize.”
“Apologize?” She stopped folding her white blouse and wrinkled her brow. “For what?”
“I—” Ben clasped his hands in front of him as he looked up, his blue eyes shining with uncertain sincerity. “I have this feeling that I somehow led you on. That I was interested in pursuing you, romantically, and I…I can’t.”
The light-hearted morning dimmed around Jade as Ben’s gaze dropped to the wood boards below his boots before he met her eyes again. “I can’t remember where I’m from. I don’t know who Sara is to me.” His brows creased. “But every time you and I are together, you remind me of her, somehow. I don’t understand it.” He lifted his shoulders and dropped them with a heavy sigh. “I want to be with you, be your friend, have you teach me this world that I don’t remember, but I want to do so honestly.” His lips twisted to the side, and he rubbed the back of his neck again. “Nothing romantic involved.”
Jade nodded, her gaze falling to the metal-wire laundry basket next to her. Her fingers traced over the cool knobs where the metal wires had been melted together to create the snag-free basket.
First, Zak didn’t want me, now Ben. At least Ben told me himself. And why.
Jade took a deep breath before she looked up at him. He’d folded his arms and started picking at the brown buttons on his cuff. His expression blended sorrow and frustration so perfectly that the ache in her heart eased.
“I understand,” Jade stated quietly. She knelt to put away the rest of her clean laundry, keeping herself focused on the task, so she wouldn’t have to make eye contact until she was sure the ache was buried. “It’s not your fault that you can’t recall. But,” she turned to raise an eyebrow at him, “if you can’t pursue anyone, what was that at the bar with the girl?”
A blush darkened Ben’s face as he winced. He shuffled his feet and shoved his hands in his pockets, hunching over slightly. “So you did see that.”
“Hard to miss it.”
“Zak and Briar dared me.”
Amusement wormed its way through Jade, and she dropped the pretense of organizing her chest. She closed it and sat on the lid. “They dared you to do what, exactly?”
Ben lifted a hand to cover part of his face. “Briar was talking about pickup lines, and I may have said that I could do better than him, and one thing led to another.”
Jade lifted an eyebrow and cocked her head.
Ben groaned into his palm. “Are you going to make me spell it out?”
She grinned. “You came to me,” she pointed out. “And you told me that you couldn’t pursue anyone because you can’t remember anything. So yes, spill.”
“Fine,” Ben mumbled. “Zak dared me to use a pickup line on the next girl to come into the bar, and it was her.” He dropped his face fully into both hands. “I did it. She probably thinks I’m an utter fool, and I wish I could apologize to her for it.” Ben pulled his face back and rapped his knuckles against the wood desk in frustration. “But we’re leaving tomorrow, so…” He trailed off with a sigh.
Sympathy stirred in Jade at his obvious distress. Poor Ben didn’t seem to have any luck going for him. She swallowed the small giggle that she felt as he continued to make little sounds of anguish.
“First, we will be back in Aerugo after this mission.” Jade stood and stretched. She leaned against Krista’s bunk and shook her head at Ben. “Second, we’ll likely go to the same place tonight, and maybe she’ll be there and you won’t make an utter fool of yourself. Third,” Jade pushed away from the wood frame and reached out to instinctively hug Ben. He stiffened at her first touch, then relaxed into the hug as she continued, “we’ll be fine. Friends?”
Ben squeezed her, and leaned back, his hands resting on her upper arms as he searched her eyes. “Friends sounds great.” He hesitated. “I feel awkward even bringing this up, but I have to know. Did I just hurt you with all this?” His shoulders tensed. “If I did, I am sorry.”
Jade dropped her gaze and drummed her fingers against his back as she bit her lip. “Honestly? I don’t even know yet.” She squeezed her eyes shut and sucked air into her lungs. “I’ve been too confused lately.” She opened her eyes as she blew out a breath and stared at the buttons on his shirt. “I haven’t gotten over Zak, entirely.”
“Good. He’s not over you.”
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